Green Anarchist #01

The enemies of the people are those who know what people need

No.1 SUMMIT BLOCKADED: THE CONVOY:

LONDON GREENPEACE: POISON GIRLS GIG:
C OLIN WARD:

history could be interpreted as the theft of the land
from the people and the theft of their freedom, the
suppression of the greens and the suppression of the
anarchists.

Today on the streets of the City the two traditions, the
punks and the hippies, came together to confront
authority. At Stonehenge, together, they are lighting
the same battle. Greenpeace, the Peace Convoy,
Animal lib, Third World groups, ra dical greens are
beginning to coalesce into a movement that will change
the world.

We hope that ‘Green Anarchist’ will bring together
people who see that the exploitative society results
the decimation of natural resources as well as the
exploitation of people. Anarchist though

X, A A V :S:, igiPis, m

history of concerns that the green move
interested in. Kropotkin's 'Field, Facte
Workshop', ’The Conquest of Bread’ an
all express concern for the natural envi
part of the liberationtprocess.

, illll |i

There are, equally, many people in the green
movement who are dissatisfied with the various
political parties who, tied to the ve*ft institutic
have ravaged the natural world, set peoples agi
people and developed the technques of killing to
itage where total destruction is possible.

Anarchists believe that institut
form of the state, and peopl
has resulted hUthe situation
The s early powerful states oJ
their pressures mi the surr<
exploitive agriculture resull
desert areas

■■

'

;

it humanity finds itseli
3 ^Mediterranean with
ling countryside and
in rapid extension of
:ion is world-wide;
havoc that a man with

XvX;

Now the expl
rn techniques can cam
ete was never able to

ossibilities of creating a satisfying, free

hly fed world. A rational a|>proac]xto %
transport and production is only

a power^based financial and political 1
hich people are deprived of any control over
ces which govern their lives. There is no

of such self-management,
l the most difficult Hk

agneupgie

inhibited m
system in >
over the fo
doubt that people are capable
They did it in Spain in 1936 i
circumstances.

: / .

In a situation that appears to

Green Anarchism is a synthesis of two political
traditions, both as old as history. Indeed that whole

we

hope to create a magazine that encourages

co-operative effort; that highlights the sort of direct
action that Greenpeace has been initiating; that
encourages the anti-nuclear movemnt into forms of
direct action as not only a means of defying the nuclear
state, but also as a means of discouraging unthinking
obedience; to engage in self-managing actions leading
to thinking about a self-managed society.

In mid Afternoon on Saturday, June 9th, the first
limousine from Lancaster House had got through.
The second, carrying Nagasone, the Japanese
Prime Minister, was stopped by a few
demonstrators dashing out in front of it and
sitting down. They were dragged away by the
apoplectic police. But demonstrators in the Mall
saw police and security men hurriedly close ranks
inside Lancaster House. Reagan’s limo was
stopped and finally rerouted. The Summit was

blockaded.

Nicolas Walter writes:

The first two days of the Economic Summit were
marked by small but effective actions by
Christian CND and Green CND. The last day
began slowly. It steadily improved. The CND
march and rally was as large as usual. The CND
demo around Grosvenor Square involved about
2, 000 people blockading the area for three hours.
The Summit 84 demo involved about 4,000 people
blockading the area for five hours. At the time it
was impossible for anyone to know what was
happening in dozens of places in Central London,
but after gathering reports from the police, the
media and the demonstrators, it is clear that the
Summit 84 action was a complete success.

There were about a dozen sit-downs extending
from the front entrance of Lancaster House in
the Mall, around St James's Park to Green Park
to several road junctions in St Jame's. The
largest security presence was in the Mall, where
the first sit-down was cleared by arrests soon
after 1.00, and where several hundred
demonstrators remained until evening.

It was they who saw the effects of the lightning
sit-down in Pic ad illy.

Alan A lbon writes:

The first limousine, carrying Trudeau swept past
us in Picadilly where ther were no barriers and
few policemen. Then the Japanese limo approached

CO

flanked by an outrider. Somebody ran out and
halted the outrider. The limo slowed down so we
rushed in front and stopped it. I held my hand up in
a halt sign then slid swiftly to the ground to join my
son and his girl friend. Then we were dragged away,
about ten of us.

Earlier the police had been bussing out
demonstrators. Marcus writes:

In Picadilly outside the Ritz the police had done a

wonderful job blocking off exits and entrances with
policemen, policewomen and barriers. So we added
added to this blockade by sitting down in the road
and every now and then we would be dragged out of
the way to allow a car through. We then sat back down

This game continued until more police arrived with
large green buses and it was then that our blockade
down by at least 500 people who were taken away in
the buses. It left us looking pathetic and helpless
as we could no longer block the road. We were
outnumbered by the police, who formed a horse
shoe in the road allowing out the traffic from the
Summit. Further along the same thing had happened
Those who had been arrested were given a good
roasting off and released with no charge.

Throughout the day there were sightings of the
anarchists. At one point they were seen running
down Oxford St, black banners aloft, chased by
more apoplectic policemen. Great.

N.W. continues:

And Reagan hadn't seen the last cf the
demonstrators. That evening the convoy of
conference delegates was stopped on the way to
the banquet at Buckingham Palace, and Reagan's
car was held up at last.

Run -up to the Action

During 1983 there was growing support for non¬
violent direct action in the nuclear disarmament

4

movement, but in January 1984 the CND National
Council decided to organise no demonstrations of
non-violent direct action this year and no
demonstrations at all during Easter or the
Economic Summit.

Activists in the radical wing of the movement
replied by circulating proposals challenging both
decisions through the Action 84 process. The
general proposal for a national demonstration of
NVDAas soon as possible won general agreement,
and the specific proposal for a mass blockade of
the final session of the Economic Summit won
most support. In ^pril these two proposals were
discussed by the CND National Council, which
decided to compromise by organising a symbolic
demonstration of civil disobedience at the
American Embassy, at the same time as a
conventional march from Hyde Park to a rally in
Trafalgar Square.

Some of the people involved in Action 84 accepted
the CND decision, but many others decided to
ignore it and continue with the original proposal,
presenting the movement with a choice of three
demonstrations at the same time on Saturday,

June 9th. This group,adopted the name Summit 84
and formed a working group to coordinate final
plans, circulate information, and obtain publicity.
The agreed plan was for a non-violent blockade of
the Lancaster House area from 12.30 until the
conference delegates left; the material circulated
included a propaganda leaflet for the movement, a
detailed briefing document for the demonstrators,
and a manifesto for the day; the publicity was the
biggest problem, the national media being
indifferent until the last moment, and the
movement's press being generally hostile - with
the exception of 'Freedom' and 'Greenline'.

But despite our great difficulties and small
numbers, we achieved our main objectives..We
maintained complete non-violence at aU times. We
maintained spontaneous flexibility in the face of
changing circumstances and took intelligent
initiatives at appropriate times and places. We
paralysed central London for the whole afternoon,
we delayed the departure of the conference
delegates and we obstructed several of their
individual cars.

W e did our best to bring home to our rulers and
to our fellow humans throughout the country and
the rest of the world. Now we must learn our
lessons from our experience and think of the next
step.

There is a public meeting of Summit 84 at
County Hall, London SE1, on Sunday, July 8th.
from 2.00 to 6.00.

Having assembled at Hyde Park with Green CND we
set off for the sit-down in Grosvenor Square. Looking
around, the police had done a nice job of blocking off
every entrance and exit so at these points loads of
people sat down in the roads singing peace songs.
Here, the police had no intention. A11 was peaceful.

S o, having spoken to Tokyo TV, we moved on to
Lancaster House.

Later on in the day the remaining Grosvenor
Square protestors who tried to get down to Lancaster
House found their way blocked by barriers and
police.

"But officer it was such a lovely day
and my feet were killing me."

GREEN PEACE UK
UP BIG BEN

Greenpeace UK (not to be confused with Greenpeace
London) brought their message closer to home,
spectacularly. They draped it across the face of
Big Ben. A previous action had been aborted by the
police, acting, probably, on a phone tap. Greenpeace

learnt their lesson. We're all learning it.

"Cows, not Cruise', "Bread, not Bombs'. On
Friday, June 8th, Green CND tried to link the
Summit with the alternative Summit but did not
quite succeed. There'weren't enough people. But
a symbolic action took,place. Everyone linked hands
up to the Alternative Summit, then pictures of
drugs, arms and food were passed up and down the
chain. After which the Greens.went to gather in
Hyde Park. Here they finished the action holding
hands in a large circle. „

The Cold War is the vital excuse to arm
Third World governments to suppress
their peoples and take their crops to sell
to us.

78% of Guinea Bissau is growing peanuts for export. They had

famine in ’69, ’70, ’71 and ’79. In 1972 for every ton of famine

relief, Mali exported 4 tons of crops including cotton. Their land is

used to grow crops for us and not food for themselves. We wear

cotton jeans therefore they starve. It's that simple.

The Superpowers have invented the Cold
War to justify the arms sales and repressive
regimes that stifle protest and maintain
exports.

* • i *'

• *

r*»%

To maintain the export of these crops, profitable to both the Third World
elites and the multinationals, any local protest must be suppressed, by
our guns. To excuse these arms sales our governments have to invent
the bogey of communism. 'We have to create an emotional atmosphere
akin to a wartime psychology. We must create the idea of a threat from
without." (John Foster Dulles) All local protest can the be labelled
communist and stamped out.

Likewise Russia, to hold on to its satellite puppets, has to foster the
American bogey. Then it can keep its tanks in Hungary and its clients in
power.

But having invented the Cold War to hold on to their economic empires,
they have to continue the pretence by spending enormous sums on arms to
the terrible extent of the bomb. The exploitation of the Third World leads to
to the Cold War. The Cold War leads to nuclear annihilation.

"Pershing 2 has less to do with our security than with bolstering American
American policies in the Third World, which is in the process of being
recolonised." (Eppler)

The Philippines example

In the Philippines Reagan ams tyrant Marcos to the teeth on the pretext ol
defending the world against comirur_Lsm. Marcos uses his troops to drive
Filipinos off their tribal homeland. He can then sell off (.at great personal
profit) the logging concessions to his buddies and their American i.ulti—
national associates. That's the quid pro quo lor the American arms. So the
country is being stripped of its trees vuich mane our oxygen. With no trees
the rainfall decreases. What rain there is erodes the uncovered soil.

Finally the land, now privately owned, is put down to monocultural crops for
export. Marcos, his buddies and the multinationals are delighted at this
economic growth. The tribes are destitute.

Aid as an "unfriendly act”

We sell arms to Marcos too. So our Commonewalth Development Corporation is
able to invest £6m (it's called development aid) in a 4000 hectare palm oil
concession, after first driving off the original inhabitants. Vers' profitable.

No wonder Tanada, a Filipino oppostion politician,has said, "Aid will be
considered as an unfriendly act 0 "

The global problem is the guns which support economic imperialism which
exploits the Third World.

And what are the Summit leaders
talking about?

More arms, more Cold War-. More international trade, more Western goods in
exchange for more Third World crops, more starvation. It's called Economic
Growth. They want to solve unemployment in the West by sending more goods to
the Third World in exchange for their crops. Sc those crops can't be used to
create their own employment. The Summit leaders want to export our unemplomcM
unemployment to the Third Worldo They want more 'Liberalisation oi liadc sc
that we can destroy their indigenous industries with our mass-produced goods.

They are also talking about interest rates, straght talking. Reagan lias cut
taxes on the rich so he's got less funds for his increased arms production.

He has to borrow, which puts up interest rates in America. Because we have
abolished exchange controls, we are lending hinr. our money for the nice high
interest rates (so our money is creating employment in America instead cl
in Eritain). That's the reason for the American boom. But the Third World
is having to pay out as well, is also having to pay these high interest
rates on its extravagant debts.

For every 1$ increase in interest rates the Third World is having to loi’k
out another 3j billion dollar's.

The world's poorest are being starved
because of America's increased defence
spending fora fraudulent Cold War.

What should be done?

1. End arms sales to Third World governments.

2. Cut American defence spending.

3 . Stop all government aid.

4.Solve Western unemployment by Land
Reform.

(To make small farms economic 9 cut (indirect) “taxes on the poor “bo
reduce the cost of livingo)

This was the leaflet that Green CND distributed at their action

Thanks,

crops"

7*4 fOR _

' EXPORT

TH€

?
¥

to p x

aVVO'N

*

%

&

WHY did Botha come to Britain.

A nd Why did Thatcher allow it?
Their major common interest is
Namibia and how to install a
compliant government there which
will continue the theft of Namibia's
mineral resources, to say nothing
of her crops.Namibia is the only
large source of uranium that can be
used in nuclear weapons. So
Britain uses Canadian and
Australian uranium for the power
stations that will weaken the coal
miners power and has come to a.
cosy arrangement with Rio Tinto
Zinc for Namibian uranium for its
bombs. It needs a government that
will continue that cosy arrangement

Botha needs to pay back the mining
multinationals whose political
contributions keep him in power.
They support him as long as he
makes it easy for them to milk
Namibia. So he needs a
government in Namibia which will
continue the headlong depletion of
its mineral resources.

That sort of government will not be
popular and will need to be kept in
power by heavy sales of arms. The
excuse for that will be some
external 'communist' threat; it
always is. The Cold War is
essential for capitalism.

At the moment independence
negotiations have stalled, again,
because some of Botha's tame
Multi-party Conference have
switched sides to join SWAPO.
Having failed to install its own
Turnhalle Alliance as a puppet
government, and now failing with
the more broad-based Multi-party
conference, Botha is touring

Europe, trying to get Britain,
France, Germany, (with Canada
and USA, the infamous Gang of
Five) to take over during the
negotiations for 'independence'.

He has probably now accepted that
he can't stop SWA PO and wants
to make sure that SWAPO accepts
conditions which, heavily
disguised, will allow the

capitalist exploitation. If the Gang
of Five is in apparent control, then
independence negotiations, with a
gloss of respectability, can impose
Free Trade with South Africa, the
use of the South African rand as
currency and the other essentials
. for neo-colonialism, in exchange
for aid and arms sales. Namibia
will be tied into South Africa’s
economic empire.

But however much the Gang of Five
might approve of Botha's neo¬
colonialism, because of South
A frica's terrible reputation they
can't be «*een to be getting into bed
‘with hin to eagerly. They are

hoist with their own hypocritical
morality.

America has joined in by demanding
that Cuban troops leave Angola as a
condition for Namibian
'independence'. Europe,
embarrassed, has rejected this
'linkage'.

Meanwhile, hidden by South
Africa's media blackout, the vital
battle is being fought by SWAPO's
soldiers. As they get stronger, the
repression increases. It is not
succeeding.

But the final battle against poverty
will not be fought by the soldiers,
but by the negotiators. The battle
will be won or lost in the economic
footnotes of the independence
dec la ration.

Richard Hunt

Thanks to the Namibian Support
Committee for the information on
which this article is based.

Contact: CANUC,

c/o 53, Leverton St, London. NW5.

8

Riff Rfiff CHIT CHAT

How typical that hardened ideologists
dismiss or ignore music and poetry. However
there is a movement spreading among younger
punks; pacifists and poets; which is much closer
to the street. They embrace animal liberation;
they are often vegans but certainly vegetarians;
they regard music as part of their diet and
poetry as part of their music. They are often to
be seen in black clothes without frills although
they could equally be dressed in vivid colours
assembled from jumble sales. They duplicate or
print their own mags, or fanzines. They hawk them
around on demonstrations and celebrations. They
share food;rooms;money and time.They have a
lot of fun and are quite certainly going to be the
seeds-of-anarchy in Two Thousand AD. Because
beyond their fun is passion and commitment
which may lead those of us in older generations
to question our arrogance and assumptions.

Having spent much of the past four years on the
streets I have been in a good position to observe
the growth of community bookshops; the positive
mushrooming of feminist magazines; countless
smalltown but largehearted anarchist duplicated
pocketpamphlets; and a new spirit of anarchy and
poetry-of-anarchy which may well surprize the
stolid tribes of traditional anarchist and ecologist
media. What this paper needs and what our sister
papers like Peace News ; Greenline and Freedom
nedd, are more contributors who also streetsell;
who set-up travelling-bookstalls;and who realize

• I

Here ere. our plens
?or you in the event

of a nucleer A

exchange

O O O ° °

you’re
gonna

die I

suckers

« .

Sf

that to sit back waiting for a familiar local face
to appear with such magazines is to condemn the
distribution to a smaller circle. From my own
experience when streetselling > to carry a selection
of pamphlets and magazines helps in every way.

So that one person may see at least one or two
magazines of interest. Contrary to the myth that
to sell several confuses - well, of course it
confuses the partisan editors who foolishly assume
their own magazine to be the only one of value.

Here are a few of those community bookshops:

Books Upstairs is a converted bedroom. In spite
of this, besides bookshelves around the walls
there are two comfy armchairs; a coffeetable;
a childreife cornerspace; plus coffee & kettle with
music from cassettedeck plus radio. And still
there is plenty of room for people to gather for
meetings. There is a noticeboard plus countless
pamphlets and magazines. It is literally above a
wholefoodshop in Parchment Street, Winchester.

Seek it out.Tell your friends.Distribute publicity
about such a useful bookshop which is equally an
important meeting place and a coffee shop.

Above 'The Grain Store', Winchester, Hampshire .

The Other Branch has been a focus for people at
Warwick University; for townspeople of Leamington.
It has already celebrated over ten years of
voluntary and collective life.lt has a marvellous
selection of books; a childrens room;with strong
feminist and anti-racialist sections; political
literature and volumes of poetry. Pamphlets and
magazines of every description. Find this bookshop
by visiting The Rainbow Cafe in a nearby street!
Find the Rainbow Cafe by asking for Cornmother .

In Other Words graces Mutley Plain not a long
walk from Plymouth city centre. Founded by two
feminists and activists in the libertarian peace
movement, it is another lovely bookshop to browse
in. Postcards & badges abound.Efficient and friendly.

GreenLeaf is on Colston Street, close to Christmas
Steps in Bristol. Below the Urban Centre for Alt.
Technology and above the Greenleaf Cafe!Ecology
predominates;cookery and thirdworld issues side
by side with feminism and A It. Medicine/Health .

Blackthorn greets visitors with jazz albums and
political jewellery!C ND). Strong anarchist and
socialist sections. Large number of magazines &
pamphlets. In the basement the finest cafe -
Bread & Roses. Visit Leicester just for these two
meetingplaces uijder one roof. In the High Street,
Leicester. __

Mushroom is in Heathcote Street - probably the

oldest of the newer wave of radical bookshops,
where the founders also print or publish;choose
only books & magazines they believe to be relevant
and create bookshops worthy of their forerunners.
Heathcote Street, Nottingham.

Dennis Gould

FIELDS AND FACTORIES by Colin Ward

I I IHEN Wiliam Morris was born in 1843 the
111 population of Britain was equally divided
| y between town and country. This itself was
considered extraordinary, for not only had the
population doubled since the end of the previous
century but its locational balance had changed 1
completely. In 1800 eighty per cent of the population
were rural dwellers rather than town dwellers. By the
time Morris died in 1896, not only had the population
doubled again, but at least seventy per cent were urban
dwellers. All through the century and all through his
lifetime the industrial cities had grown like mushrooms.

It was a phenomenon as dramatic and awesome as the
urban explosion in the cities of Latin America, Africa,

India and South East Asia in the last forty years.

Every single social critic and prophet of the Victorian
period was united in condemnation of the exploding
British cites of their day. Carlyle, Engels, Kingsley,

Arnold, Ruskin, Henry George, the list is endless.

Morris of course, in 'News from Nowhere', described
his own vision of the future greening of the city, and its
dissolution in the dispersed city region. As he put it,
the "big murky places which were once the centres of
manufacture" have disappeared, and ther has been
"little clearance, though much rebuilding, in the
smaller towns. Their suburbs indeed, when they have
any, have melted into the general countryside, and
space and elbow-room have been got into their centres." short-lived period of 'high farming', in the time when

The 19th century critics and prophets were similarly Morris was a child. But it ams short-lived and U was
concerned about the countryside and the changes fol ( ow f f^ich Lasted, with a brief h atus

happening there. We have a great creative le to e collection 'The Victorian Countrvside'

underside of British history to which Morris subscribed, ™ coile £ u ° n ine Victorian country side ,

that at some time away m the past, the land was held by sentence .. The English countrvside has orobablv
the people and that every family had a right to the the sentence > lhe bn S llsh countryside has probably

rich and powerful against the poor and needy. The
excuse was, just as in different circumstances it is
today, that a far more productive agricultural system,
bringing benefits to all, would be the result of putting
control of the land into fewer and fewer hands. In any
case, the expanding industrial towns were crying out
for the busy fingers of the children of the poor.

T.nng before Morris was born, William Cobbett spoke
up for the dis p

up for the dispossessed. "The cottagers, " he said, in
opposing a proposed enclosure at Horton Heath,
"produced from their little bits, in food, for
themselves, and in things to be sold at market, more
than any neighbouring farm of 200 acres.... I learnt to
hate a system that could lead English gentlemen to
disregard matters like these I That could induce them to
to tear up 'wastes' and sweep away occupiers like those
I have described: Wastes indeed! Give a dog an ill name,
name. Was Horton Heath a waste when a hundred,
perhaps, of healthy boys and girls were playing there
of a Sunday, instead of creeping about covered in filth
in the aUeys of a town."

A gricultural Decline

A gricultural improvements, coupled with the policy of
getting all those stupid yokels off the land, brought the

livelihood they could gain from their portion of it.
Gerrard Winstanley and many others saw the Norman
Conquest as the moment of transition, but the rights of
commoners and cottagers, the people we would today
call squatters, existed long before then, and persisted
long afterwards. *■

never looked more prosperous than it did in the 1860s"
and it ends with the lament that, "The countryside has
seldom looked more dejected than at the turn of the
present century; neglected and overgrown hedges, weed-
weed-infested meadows and pastures, decaying thatch,
delapidated buildings, untidy farmyards; everywhere
examples of lack of attention, misfortune, or despair

The process of enclosure, lasting over many centuries, could be seen...." Anyone over 60 will remember
was an immense historical injustice directed by the this atmosphere of the broken-down picturesque as the

10

characteristic rural landscape of their childhood. It
was of course a haven for wild life.

And paradoxically, when agriculture was at its lowest
ebb, the mood of "back to the land'-’ and "the simple

m m

pace which is much more manageable than their
mushroom expansion in the last century? Shouldn't we
also reflect that when the economies of Liverpool or
Glasgow, for example, were booming, when their
population was at its highest and their docks and

~- # - . pupuiaiiun wa.o ai no aiiu uicn

life” arose. Jesse Collins won the Liberal Party to heavy industries were thriving, a terrifying proportion

onvcc onH q pmu” ftnri thp pmerciM « .« • _ -«_*• _ 1 • • _i • • „

slogan "three acres and a cow” and the emerging
socialist movement was similarly concerned with the
revival of rural life. Widely sold books of the 1890s
like Morris's 'News from Nowhere', like Robert
Blatchford's 'Merrie England' (which sold nearly a
million copies in a few years) and like Peter Kropotk:
Kropotkin's 'Fields, Factories and Workshops'
predicted a new marriage of town and country.

Kropotkin argued for mixing factory work with farm
work, brain work with manual work, town work with
country work. His particular prophesy was this: "The
scattering of industries over the country - so as to

of their populations were living and dying in conditions
of unbelievable overcrowding, degradation and squalor.

Our lack of the political will to gain acceptance that the
development value of land belongs to the community
which generated it, has resulted in the apparent
impossibility to renew the dead central districts of the
cities at the kind of densities our fellow citizens

actually like, and with the amount of open space that
the better off take for granted.

Modern Enclosures

bring the factory amidst the fields, to make agriculture

derive all those profits which it always finds in being Roger Starr, when he was housing administrator of
with industry and to produce a combination of New York told me of his mistification at the way land

industrial work - is surely the next step to be taken... re tains its price long after it has lost its value . In
This step is imposed by the necessity for each healthy Britain we have what can only be called a capitalist
man and woman to spend a part of their lives in manual ^ W hich we are all interested parties, to keep up

work in the free air; and it will be rendered the more p r i ce 0 f inner city land, which should be valued

necessary when the great social movements, which as derelict, simply because in the speculator's

have now become unavoidable, come to disturb the paradise of the 1960s and early 1970s, institutional

present international trade, and compel each nation to and public investors, like the great insurance and
revert to her own resources for her own pension funds, invested so heavily in property shares,

maintenance." This is what stands in the way of Morris's greening

of the city, and Morris would not have been surprised.

Gardens With Cities

The most influential of these prophets was Ebenezer
Howard, who in 1898 published his 'Tomorrow: a
Peaceful Path to Real Reform" later reprinted many
times as 'Garden Cities of Tomorrow'. Howard
declared that " while the age we live in is the age of
the great closelt-compacted, overcrowded city, there
are already signs, for those who can read them, of a
coming change so great and so momentous that the
twentieth century will be known as the period of the
great exodus, the return to the land..."

The purpose of his proposed ring of garden cities was
to take the pressure of population off central cities so
that it would be economically possible to redevelope
central areas at humane densities.

Howard was convinced that once the inner city had been
"demagnetised", once large numbers of people had
been convinced that "they can better their condition in
every way by migrating elsewhere" the bubble of the
monopoly value of inner city land would burst. "But
let us notice", he wrote in his concluding chapter on
'The Future of London', " how each person in migratir
from London, while making the burden of ground rente
less heavy for those who,remain, will (unless there is
some change in the law), make the burden of rates on
the ratepayer of London yet heavier. " He thought that
the change in the inner city would be affected "not at
the expense of the ratepayers, but almost entirely at
the expense of the landlord class."

What stands in the way of a realisation of Morris's
hopes for a repopulated countryside? Ctace again it
is the artificially inflated price of land. A building
plot of a third of an acre with planning permission
for one house is on the market locaUy where I live in
West Suffolk at £15, 000, and the 75-acre farm down
our lane was sold in July 1983 at £3175 an acre.
Planning permission itself can turn the modern farmer
from a millionaire into a billionaire. Apart from
corrupting the very purpose of land-use planning.

John Seymour has a vision of the rural environment
that echoes that of Cobbett in the 1820s and Morris in
the 1890s.

He knows a man who farms ten thousand acres with
three men and some contractors, growing barley for
the subsidy. And he reflects, "Cut that land (exhausted
as it is ) up into a thousand plots of ten acres each,
give each plot to a family trained to use it, and within
ten years the production coming from it would be
enormous.... The motorist wouldn't I.ave the
satisfaction of looking out over a vast treeless, hedge¬
less prairie of indifferent barley- but he could get out
of his car and wander through a seemingly huge area
of diverse countryside, orchards, young tree
plantations, a myriad of small,plots of land growing a
multiplicity of different crops, farm animals galore,
and hundreds of happy and healthy children... "

If it is your vision too, you have to fathom out the
political changes necessary to make it realisable.

Well, of course, the landlord class has made sure that
it hasn't happened that way. The exodus from the cities
that Morris, Howard and the rest of them anticipated,
has happened and is happening. And instead of . This is the text of a talk given at the William Morris

lamenting the death of the cities, shouldn't we be Today exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
rejoicing at the fact that their decline is happening at &in London.

11

(see a series
token tantrum

mm

mm

WE HAVE NOT COME HERE TO PROTEST OUR LACK OF FREEDOM BUT

The Convoy. How it all began.

ONCE upon a time there were three sheep who
defected from the herd saying they were fed up
with having their wool ripped off. The consensus
among the rest of the herd was that the fences
around the field had been strengthened and the
shears sharpened and used closer to the skin as a
result of this escape. Moral: all legal movements
will disown those who reject the unjust laws and
customs and call them trouble-makers in order to
maintain credibility vis a vis the moderate
majority.

♦

There is a Widespread myth that the Convoy are
bovver boys. In this the various peace movements
of the UK have become victims of government
propaganda, whose motive is divide and destroy.
The most common lie, reproduced on the front
pages of the pulp press is 'gun outlaws'.This was
the excuse for the deployment of 50 police marks¬
men at the recent eviction from Stonehenge in
which over 500 riot squad got their overtime and
bonus.lt is well known that there have never been
any guns on the convoy. Another standard
propaganda trick was the publication of the lie
that "the Convoy beat up Windsor Angels" by the
News of the World . This was a particularly nasty
trick because the Windsor Hells Angels chapter is
one of the most respected group of outlaws in the
UK, the idea behind it being to insult the Angels*
honour so that a fight would take place. In fact
there has never been any contact or hassle
between the Convoy and Windsor. That the Peace
Movement should be influenced by state propaganda
is to some extent unavoidable; it is part of the
process of information transmission to which all
humans subscribe. If you take nothing as given and
find out for yourself, that is a first step towards
liberty.

NO SUCH THING AS THE CONVOY
Recently a poster appeared with the motto:
"Destroy the system before it destroys you." The
author of this poster, when challenged, failed to
demonstrate the existence of the'system'. What
can be shown to be is, for example, the existence
of Mark or Jonathon who think and act in a
particular way (they say they belong to the police
force or the SWP). But even though Mark and

are, the groups they claim to be part of

on a piece

system apart from us, or alternatively that "the
system" is our way of thinking, speaking and

acting in the world. To say that political parties
or groups are is like saying there is a thing
called the BUS QUEUE in London. Sure there are
bus queues all over the place as long as it is
understood that 'bus queue' means a few people
hanging around for the 31. Our thinking process is
dominated by such woolly concepts based ultimately
on the misuse of language. The so-called 'system'
is our way of thinking and has to be changed.

Of course there is no such thing as the Convoy. On
the other hand there are groups of people who
travel together. At some point in time they take on
different names. 'Tibetan Ukrainians', 'the Convoy',
'Green Albion' etc.The membership of thesegroups
Is not fixed. Whoever's on the road is part of the
Convoy. If you get a mobile home and hit the road,
you will be 'The Convoy'.

What does happen is a rendez-vous point. Around
the last week of June some 1000 vehicles are
expected to rendez-vous on the S alisbury Plain,
between Glastonbury and Stonehenge, and to
proceed to Porton Down for the stop-over.

Yet we must bear in mind that this convoy will be
only Joe Bloggs and Mrs. Street and you if you
come. If we can change our thinking habits, like
the belief in things that are not there, we will make
a step towards'changing the system'.

HOV IT ALL BEGAN

There was a free festival at Glastonbury in 71.
There were 'White Panthers" and "Diggers" and
"Squatters" in 72 who called themselves.
"Polytantic" and went to Windsor. There was a
large squatting community in Cha lk Farm which
got evicted by Ken Livingstaie . There was Dwyer
who copped an extradition order after jail for his
involvement in Windsor. There was a group of
Wallies around 74 who changed their names and
squatted Stonehenge. Ohe of them is buried
among the stones-Phil Russel alias Wally Hope,
died in "unexplained circumstances" after his
arrest and incarceration in a psychiatric ward

syste

m

no

'

.

: x-

-

TO CELEBRATE THE FREEDOM THAT'S ALREADY THERE.

His mate Jeff got done in in Epping Forest.

A nother wally got given nine years for acid.
There was this guy called Dr. John who
organised a "Caravenserai" to Trentishoe
Festival—some 30, vehicles in convoy left the
Polytantric and got bogged down in a swamp.
There was Tim Corker, lawyer-anarchist, of
A..U, M. who .would be seen marshalling vehicles
from his blue bus and calling for convoy.

Tim died in a similar "unexplained
circumstances" inside a state hospital at Kings
Cross. There are countless others still around,
and each year the community on wheels gets
bigger.

GREENHAM COMMON AND PORT CN DOWN

There had been a number of one-day free

festivals at Greenha m. When the womeifs camp
started, the 'Convoy' moved from Stonehenge and
set up a free stage a few miles from the Main
Gate in an area where a lot of old trees had just

been felled by the MOD. There was a party one
night when a 100 yardsof fence disappeared and
people went on to the base for a smoke and some
fun. The party was interrupted by the a rrival of
a chopper full of the riot squad who started busting
at random. The only publication to carry this
story was 'Overthrow' in California. The British
press was told to hush it and the so-called Peace
press didn't want to know. Since then the women
have carried out mass actions against the base
and through the skilful use of publicity made it

one of the most talked about issues in this
country.

■ ;

-

Porton Down is happening this year, and after the

Convoy leaves, it is hoped that a large permanent

camp will be set up there and that some crrouD
will do the publicity to make it a national issue. We

weren't so much concerned with the politics of

germ warefare as with the fact that the existence

of the ideology of disease is firmly entrenched in

everyone's mind. Disease is something that the

state controls - via early conditioning in the family

and later on through established institutions such

as hospitals, universities, vaccination centres etc

Some of us think that herpes etc. were actually

developed at some of these research centres.In

the Soviet Union state control is achieved through

psychiatry- the most common diseases being

'anarchy* and 'dissidence'.

particularly of a political character, receive
different treatment from others - like a mate of
ours who had his leg rebroken by 'hospital
orderlies' at the Royal Free, or like Tim Corker
who was killed "by a virus" according to official
sources. Other cultures who do not have an official
theory of medicine manage much better than we do.

DRUGS

One of the most common accusations levelled
against the 'Convoy' is that they advocate the use
of drugs. This in spite of the fact that our way of
life in the West is based on the administration of
massive amounts of poison. The germ warfare
centre produces specialised poisons. The
pharmaceutical multinationals market common
poisons and make a lot of money. The government
condones the heroin trade in the belief that rebels,
fire more likely to try it and get hooked, thereby
becoming politically inactive. If that doesn't work,
'sexual' diseases are introduced into radical
-circles.

The festival subculture, for we are talking about
a way of life, uses alcohol, weed, hash and
mushrooms, natural products of the earth, tested
for generations by different societies. Mushrooms
and other psychadelic drugs produce 'visions'
which may result in a re-appraisal of the value
systems of the Westerp world.

On their own, hallucigens have little effect. The
myth of the last decade, "drop acid and see God'
has been discredited by practice, for the people
who relied on psychadelics alone made little
progress and did not necessarily become better
and wiser.

Combined with internal struggle, rethinking of the
scenario, meditation and much effort, hallucigens
can be useful, although, the majority use them for
pleasure.

This is not to say that hard drugs are advocated

or approved in any way. Heroin dealers who have
attempted to cash in on the festival boom have
been physically thrown out or otherwise dealt with.

SUMMER CONVOY

This year your rendez-vous on Salisbury Plain
has been set up to include vehicles from
Glastonbury Festival as well as from Stonehenere
See you around near Porton Down. Go for it.

Dave of London Greenpeace writes this personal view

There's a war on, a war between humanity all
over the globe, and the Systems which control and
destroy our lives, our environment and the natural
world.

They exploit everything under the sun (literally)—
all materials and resouces on this beautiful and
bountiful planet, all the food, all the nature. They
rip up the earth, destroy forests, pollute our seas
and dominate the land everywhere.

They exploit every person - build factories, offices
and plantations all over and force people to work in
them or go hungry. They reduce human communities
to economic slaves, numbers to be stuck on graphs
in their profit and loss accounts, who must obey and
labour for them.

Fighting amongst themselves for influence, land
and resources, these institutions fuel (and of course
profit from) barbaric wars, causing fear, suffering
and death to hundreds of millions of people, trapped
in the zones of the Generals. Meanwhile as people's
land and food is stolen and resources squandered,
millions of others starve.

They don't give a shit about anyone, any of us. We
are NOTHING to them.They don't give a fuck for the
peoples of the world - never did and never will. So
this is a picture without illusions.

The financial and industrial institutions which
exploit us and the earth are complemented by those
which defend, conquer and expand power blocs (the
military), which control people (authorities of all
kinds, police and armies), those which service us
and make us dependent (shops, the traffic system,
the welfare state), which mould people into obedient
citizens (schools, media) as well as institutions
which integrate us and neutralise our concerns,
questioning and resistance (churches, charities,
unions, political parties and parliament etc.).

In the past when people have rebelled, they have
usually explained their struggle as a class struggle
to make improvements in the System, or to seize
control of it (the land, workplace and towns) from
those who at present have power.

In the second case, by establishing worker councils
(Russia 1905, 1917, Germany 1919, Italy 1920,
Hungary 1956, ..) and town communes (Spain 1936..),
they would be able to share and excercise power
themselves, and so end oppression. However most

rebellions and revolutions have been diverted by
political parties into struggles to establish a new
kind of State control over industry and society
generally.

As revolution and class struggle have been turned
into problems of who shoul d manage the system,
so most working class people have turned away
from, and in fact have been pushed out of politics.
However, the struggle to protect our humanity,
and the conditions and quality of our lives has
continued daily.

By the 1960’s, movements out of control of political
parties began to develop—involving fresh ideas
and forms of organisation and activity. Independant
movements grew up against nuclear weapons, for
women’s liberation, wildcat stokes, occupations
of housing and workplaces (especially in the 1968
uprising and general strike in France), for non¬
authoritarian relationships and lifestyle, and
against ecological destruction etc. It was within
this atmosphere of questioning and self¬
organisation that the group I eventually joined,

The London Greenpeace Group, was founded
(along with other such groups) in 1970. Primarily
to campaign against nuclear bomb testing it
graduaUy broadened out to question this whole
society and our personal responsibility to act in
our every day lives to change things.

In 1977, with all political parties and Unions
defending nuclear energy, a large movement of
independant local groups, protest and direct
actions (occupations and blockades of sites etc )
grew up all over Europe and America to close
down aU nuclear installations. One of the few
independent groups in England to be active during
this whole decade, London Greenpeace was able
to spread valuable information and contribute
practical and theoretical ideas to the anti-nuclear
movement. This was especially helpful in the
formation of regional, or issue-based, action
networks and federations based on autonomous
coHective and groups. Members took part In site
occupations and blockades, and blocking nuclear
waste transport. There was a great awareness
that it was the whole, centralised, destructive
system which was being challenged, and that
there were radical alternatives which it was up
to ourselves to create. At the same time there
was the res

organu

*

m

■

movements for change, including large ,
anarchistic youth revolts. By 1980, the anti¬
nuclear struggle had begun to come up against heavy
police opposition on one hand, and on the other hand
the now familiar attempts by Left groups to co-opt
it. At the same time the threat of nuclear war
stimulated the rebirth of massive "anti-bomb"
protests. Whilst most of these seemed to be
channelled into futile appeals to politicians, and
into joining single-issue hierarchical organisations,
there were many involved who knew something
more fundamental was needed. In England,
this peace movement totally failed to oppose the
war in the Falklands. 1 joined London Greenpeace
at this time as one of the very few groups (mostly
pacifist and anarchist groupsjactive in some way
against that war. Later peace camps began to
spring up outside military bases everywhere, and
a radical anti-war movement began to grow.

This inspired us, especially with the large-scale
blockades to try to close bases. It seemed that
people were drawing on the experiences and
strengths of the earlier anti-nuclear power
activities.

It was then that some of us felt the time could
be right for significant opposition to the war
machine in our towns as well. With our hearts
in our mouths we called for an occupation to
Stop The City of London the centre of finance
for the arms trade on 29th S eptember 19 83.

After 1500 people took part in that encouraging
action, a movement developed which decided
to re-occupy the "City" in March this year.

This time 3000 people from different movements
came together for an amazing and determined
protest against the profit system itself. let’s
hope these actions continue to grow and spread
to other towns.

All this time, we in the group felt that mass
protests should complement and not detract
from the opposition that’s needed to everyday
oppression all around us. Whilst protest
movements give confidence and a focus to
discontented minorities and sub-cultures, the
majority of people face a daily struggle for
survival and self-respect, to overcome isolation
and constant hassles by the Authorities. This
daily struggle throughout our society carries
the seeds of widespread opposition and community

Yet the system is maintained by their
authoritarian culture. To encourage each other
to question and undermine that culture helps
us all to increase our confidence to oppose the
controls forced on us. Hence,- for us in London
Greenpeace, it is vital that we relate our ideas
to people's everyday lives and struggles. It's
important to actively criticise and oppose the
use of money, in favour of sharing to support
opposition to the power and violence of the traffic
system (probably more effective than the police
in ensuring social control);
to encourage respect and defence of animals
and the natural world, and for people to stop
eating and exploiting animals;
to try to involve children in what we do, and
support their struggles, as well as support
parents with their responsibilities and hassles;
to encourage people to reject materialism, all
the useless junk we a re expected to buy and
consume, especially junk food;
to explain the way the system buys us off with
luxury imports (coffee, sugar, minerals,
tropical fruit etc ), and the effects this has on
people in third world regions;
to encourage opposition to sexist attitudes, and
active support for womeii's struggles;
to oppose the ever-increasing dependence of
people on drugs of all kinds - tobacco, alcohol,
coffee, dope, TV, sugar, vallium, etc.;
to criticise the idea that 'experts, 'leaders' and
Authorities of any kind know what's best for us,
or should have any power over us;
to support people creating their own entertain¬
ment , developing craft skills and educating
eachother;

to encourage mutual aid and solidarity in our
neighbourhoods, and support all self-organisation
and resistance to the various Authorities-
tenants’groups, workplace organisations, parent
and toddler groups, and associations of every
kind which people create and participate in to
fulfil a need.

To achieve this will be a process of ecological
and social revolution, in which we abolish all
the structures of the present system and create
a world based on our humanity and common
sense.

-a so;

IiIMli fHi m M

nani

V

rsonal view by Dave,

■■■■ #i.;;:

sM mmmm

ANARCHISTS are often accused of being hopelessly
impractical and idealistic. It is true that many
think in political terms of revolution, and solutions
that will only come with Utopia. Basically, however,
the ideas have a relevance, and an urgency, if we
have the wit and the imagination to break away
from the old cliches that stand in our way. The
cardinal difference between the acarchist approach
and the political approach is that tha party seeks
mass acceptance and we seek mass participation.
Man has come to the end of his reserves of
productive virgin land, so the land we have has to
be farmed in the real sense of the word. Farmed
to feed and to continue feeding. To those who still
think that industrialisation will solve these
problems, I will quote Dr. E. S. Schumacher, who
pointed out that intensive factory farming is no
answer to the world food problem. He pointed out
that: "The average American farm worker has
behind him an investment of £10, 000 and farm
productivity per man is among the highest in the
world. But productivity per acre of agricultural
land was only half that of Britain, which in turn
was a quarter of that of the United Arab Republic.

Economics Mumbo Jumbo

Today we are in a period of economic crisis, an
impasse of a system of financial mumbo-jumbo
that so-called socialist politicians are vainly
trying to make work. At the mercy of the whims
of this modern fetish, which has no basis in
rationality or usefulness, men are willing to live
their lives. The honeymoon of postwar prosperity
has come to an and without an understanding of the
real state of the world.

Most of the newly independent nations pin their
hopes on industrialisation. It is thought to be a
source of power, and It is in political terms, but
in the long term it is going to be a source of
weakness, danger, enmity, strife and human
misery. If mankind retains the present financial
set-up, the competition to sell industrial products
is going to get fiercer and fiercer and the pace will
will^et faster and faster and the workers will tie
themselves to an industrial treadmill that is
without purpose or satisfaction. In face of the
continued world food shortage the price of this
most essential of all needs is likely to rise
steadily. The vunerability of Britains's economy
is obvious to all but the economists who urge
greater production.

The sad fact is that we are gradually covering our
greatest asset with concrete and buildings. The
soil and climate of Britain is a peasant's dream

and although productivity in agriculture has far
outstripped that of industry, its potential, in the

context of a sensible social and economic policy
could be immense.

Movement Bric-a-brac

The cry of course is that one cannot turn back tne
clock, but if the direction one is taking is a cul-
de-sac , one has to turn round and try another
way; and if the approach can be made without
preconceived ideas and traditions, so much the
better. In terms of human happiness even the
affluent West cannot contend that industrialisation
has been an unqualified success. There is little
quality in life or production - houses and rubbish *
dumps are lumbered with the bric-a-brac of
industry; cities and roads are so clogged,with cars
that there is no longer any pleasure here; the
benefits of lying in the sun are more than counter¬
acted by the nervous energy expanded in getting
there. Yet the only solution according to the
politician is the production of more and more of
this mediocre trash, Many anarchists have fled
this madness, failing to convince their fellows of
the folly of such a system. To continue to talk in
political terms is to fail to make ourselves
under stood. People are not unaware of the
unsatisfactory nature of the times in which they
live and, if they hear the same sort of terms that
they hear ad nauseam from the political parties,
anarchism will continue to be dismissed.

j il I

The problem for man is two-fold; to humanise
industry and to deal with the spectre of famine
that haunts the* world, and this requires the
participation Of people, a study of the problems
and what action people can take. The individual
must regain control of his environment. The
ability to grow food and control,the source of food
is probably the best way to secure this

independence. Until the industrial workers realize
this, they will remain essentially a slave to the

16

COFFIN CLUBS

The trade union and the co-operative movements
have deteriorated into the same sort of impersonal
corporations that abound in our society mainly
because the mass of members fail to participate.
They control vast funds, the membership still has
constitutional control over these organisations, a
small revolution could take place if they exercised
their power. Trade unionists contribute vast sums
in political contributions which, after all, goes to a
political .party that maintains the status quo.

Every local authority is obliged to supply an
allotment to those who have no garden. There are
acres of disused land which should be used. It may
seem irrelevant when the shops are crammed with
food but is it irrelevant to the millions who go
hungry every day? The biggest contribution that
anyone can make to the world food problem is to
say we do not need to extract a contribution from

the world larder.

Do not say to the government that you must do this
for us, but say, ’We are going to see that our
families are going to secure a more stable
community'’ and vise the union funds to this end,
not only to procure a more stable community here,
but also abroad by using industrial knowledge to
enable the hungry to stabilise their agriculture.

The limiting factors in agriculture are low rain¬
fall, soil impoverished of organic matter and
sometimes badly deficient. The first factor is
sometimes aggravated by human activity. The
second is almost always caused by it. Often
communities are caught up in a circle of poverty
which they themselves cannot break. They burn
the dung and the cover for fuel which makes the
soil more and more arid. Abig factor could be the
provision of simple paraffin stoves and supply of
fuel, the study of solar machines, wind generators,
pumps, desalinators, improved hand tools, seeds,
animals, provision of wind breaks, vermin-proof
food stores

humanity achieved some sort of control over the
environment. Today we have to achieve an
independence from an artificial system that
prevents a full enjoyment of all life has to offer.
Modern techniques to peoples needs - physical and
psychological. The modern Briton could do this, it
must be the reply to redundancies. \ t

Just the indication that somebody cared would
encourage enthusiasm and participation. We have
made progress in breaking down religious
objections here to population control. Perhaps
some progress can be made in India with the
sabred cow. We all have them, they are our
biggest problem.

Alan Albon

CureD to

Death

CURED TO DEATH: an anarchisf
report on the effects of prescrip¬
tion drugs. Article by Arabella
Melville and Colin Johnson,
published by New English Library
price £2.50.

In Britain, as in most countries
of the affluent wqrld, drugs
represent the first line of therapy
for almost all health problems.
Most people will take a pain
-killer for a headache without a
second thought, and if they suffer
less familiar symptons or
anything apparently more serious,
they will consult a doctor and,
four times out of five, receive a
prescription for drugs to
suppress the symptoms. It is a
situation that has become a focus
of controversy over recent years,
but it is proving remarkably
resistant to change.

Cured to Death is a book that
analyses the health care problem
from an anarchist perspective.

By focussing on the power
relationships between business

and government, doctor and
patient, salesman and ta rget, we
show that the structure of the
pressures acting at all levels.

Its effects are also predictable:
when economic and institutional
power are exercised in the way
that is characteristic of our
culture, the individuals welfare
is subordinated to the greater
institutional good. Thus the
pharmaceutical industry shows
healthy profits while we, the
consumers of its products, grow
steadily sicker.

With the growth of drug-induced
disease that follows the
explosion i r« the use of ever- \
more potent drugs, individuals r
become incresingly dependent 14
and powerless. Drug therapy has
evolved as a form of passive

medicine: patients are expected
to comply with their doctors'
instructions, to take the
medicine as directed, and are
discouraged from questioning any
decisions. When they fall foul of

the system and become seriously
ill from adverse drug reactions,
they are given more medication
or rejected by the system that
caused them damage. In the book,
we document the impact of this
reality on the lives of individuals.
They discover, finally, that there
is nobody to whom they can turn.
The outcome of this analysis is
that the only way that any
individual can hope to achieve
health is through taking respons¬
ibility for his or her own welfare
identifying the causes of illness
(which lie, almost without
exception, in the nature of our
culture), and acting independently
of professional institutions. In
health, as in every other aspect
of our lives, we can only hope to
fulfil our potential if we free
ourselves from those institutions
which would exercise control
over us. Cured to Death shows
that the benefits of medical
care are a myth and thus opens
the way for an individualistic
approach.

17

'A Great Gig ’

Down the Old Kent Road at the
Ambulance Station at a
benefit gig the Poison Girls
gav£ one of their best perform¬
ances ever. They never ran out
of energy. They were amazing.
The more energy they put into
playing, the more the audience
gave them back and better played
the band.

The atmospher was great, a
large lively audience from all
walks of life together under
one roof

The Poison Girls have not
played in London since March
and their

let-down in Jubilee Gardens,
when they dropped off the end
of the programme, did not put
them off.

This was most definitely one of
the best performances the
Poison Girls have ever given.

The scene was right. The lights
were great, shining down onto
the members of the band making
them a colourful show of
attention. The PA made Vi s voice
even more powerful

They played five new numbers
and an amazing two encores. It
was a spectacular show.

Their support groups that night
were 'Faction'and 'Toxic Shock'.
'Toxic Shock' are a feminist
group, Alf and Heff, who sing
songs about feminism, war,
violence and war toys. Their
performance was vivid and

bouncv and started with their
fence-cutting song®

The previous night 'Drunk on
Cake' and 'Omega Tribe'
performed together with 'Eat
Shit' in front of a friendly
audience. The gig was great
and all band members put
endlq^s energy into their
performances.

Both of these benefit gigs were
set up by Martin and the 'Green

Anarchist' to raise funds to
launch the magazine you are
reading now. 'Thankyou' to the
bands for their help and
support. And their wonderful
performances.

And Thankyou to the
A mbulance Station, one of the
best liberated buildings and a
great venue, run by a group of
really friendly people.

In future issues we hope to
run interviews with many of
these bands.

Marcus

The Honorable Potato

A food that central A merica has
bequeathed us is the potato, with
the tomato, the same family
with the more doubtfull benefits

GARD€H

of tobacco which cannot be
successfully matured, here.

W e haye also the. maize or com
plant which can, with protection
from early frosts also be
grown here. ‘

The potato however, can be
grown on small plots of land,
and be highly productive.

It contains a high ratio of
protein and is a crop useiul for
those that aim at some degree
of self-sufficiency.

Modern methods of production
are expensive and wasteful , a
large proportion of the crop is
damaged by harvesters, and
irrigation and excessive use of
chemical fertilisers influences
the flavour. Modern varieties
are constantly changing and
their genetic basis gets
smaller, and become more
watery and tasteless, as the
scramble for quantity, and
disease resistance in the
artificially growing
environment becomes more
acute. The variety of the
South American potato plant
is enormous but valuable
genetic basis for potatoes is .
threatened by cash crop
monoculture which may
eventually threaten food .
supplies. This does not only
apply to the potato, recently
a parenial variety of the Maize
plant was found on a peasants
holding in Mexico, and the

J

area where it grows was
threatened with so-called
development..

In fact much of our sources of
seed are threatened by the

behavior of monopolising seed
firms, more facts about this
activity of capitalist enterprise
can be obtained from The Henry
Doubleday Foundation.

The potato can be cooked with
much variety and not so long
ago every country garden had
its potato crop.

Alan Albon.

On Tuesday 5th June (World
Environment Day) 15 people
took part in a ’Free the
— Earth' cycleride around North
London. The aim was to visit
and leaflet places involved
with the exploitation of our
environment and to slow down
passing traffic and make people
think.

We all had an amazing time
visiting woodlands and marsh¬
lands under threat, traffic
black spots, Macdonalds(who
are cutting back rain forests
to have beef ranches instead
to provide you with beefburger^
Territorial A rmy and Holloway
Prison where the women had a
sit down protest and
confantation with the Police.

We also visited electricity
board showrooms and general
shopping areas and leafleted
all these places with a suitable
leaflet.

It was a really good day slowing
down and stopping.traffic,
breaking off for a picnic where
we met up with more people.
We plan to do more cyclerides
like this one and you can do
one too.,

Reclaim the streets they
belong to the ; Children,
Women, Men, Cyclists and
Animals, so go for it.

For more information
contact Cycleride c/o 6
Endsleigh Street, London WC1

mmm

$

m ■

i

a

A GOOD
R€C1P€

Chick peas
& Apricots

Irgredients

Chick peas and apricots
6 oz.parsnips
6 oz. potatoes
6 oz. turnips

6 oz. carrots

all finely chopped.

I lb chick peas
6 oz. dried apricots sliced.

8 oz. onions, two large ones,
chop finely.

1 lb. tomatoes, or a tm.

2 cloves of garlic finely

chopped

1 teaspoonof ground cummin
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
i teaspoon of ground chile
i teaspoon of ground cardomen

i teaspoon of Garam Masala
This seasoning is very much
a personal taste. You may
need more or less.

Vegetable oil.

Method;

Soak chick peas the night before
and steam in a pressure
cooker for 30 minutes. In
another pan p)ace oil and sweat
off all finely chopped ingredients.
Add the spices and cook out.

• Once the vegetables are soft,
^dd^the chipk peas, apricots,
.'tomatoes and It little water.

Ailpw. to get hot. Taste for

r

seasoning and adjust. Simmer
gently for 20 minutes until

spices are cooked out.

This can be served on a bed of
of Bulgar, Cous cous or rice.

It serves about 4 people.

Marcus

19

Adions

Contact Reclaim Chilwell
c/o Nottingham CND
15 Goosegate
Huckley

Nottingham NG1 1FE.
Tel. 0602-581948.

Reclaim Chilwell.

Mass Trespass July 1st.

In February this year Chilwell
A rmy Depot in Nottingham
leased to the USA F. Ij
first of additional
offered to the Americans
MOD. Prior to the A merici
take over, mac
promised local housing and
schools instead it is to be used
to store a rapid deployment
force of 1500 US military

....

— m -1
:

x:-x

Xx.

vechiles.

The Trespass begms at 1pm.
The Northern area is an all
Women's action. The rest is

En

Porton Down does
on animals to find
chemical and bio

eriment
about

ical weapo

The Convoy is mof ing in on from
Sonehenge to demonstrate against
the maltreatment of animals and

.-XvX-Xv ;.X; X\-:-X;:-x

the research into chemical and
biological warfare

InNlk, Jr

Million Miles to Peace.

Life or Death Week

This includes Stop the City
on Thursday September 27th
but we must create a large build
up for the days leading up to this
event. By organising local actions
around the arms trade etc.

The Greenham Women are calling
for 3Million women to attend
a mass action, to take part during
week of actions.

'or The Hungry

Green Collective
formation
|r the Hungry,

8 Elm

rve
Set up
so for
contac

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i; |

...

*

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X$|SS;

§111*

MB

liililiiiil

111

:

mixed. Toilets , First A id as
well as creche and over night

„ accomodation in Nottingham
if you let them know m advance

«/ ..si.

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*1' Mi

11If
■■*11115

pAJH

• s W80&

July ist. Porton Down Protest.
5 miles from Stonehenge.

mmmm

Fun Day Event to raise funds
for your CND group make use
of this event it could be a good

one so contact your local CV

_ , < _ _ _

CND group or National CND
11 Goodwin Street London N4.

:

.

ill!

mmm

Box 2

Ave Nottingham 3.

During the week of 25th Aug one
.acre of wheat will be harvested

which has been sown on the land
at USAF Molesworth and from
mere on a gathering will take
plac$ bring food , friends
music, children, sunshine,

theatre, paints, and rainbows

•x- x:-;:v

ra

and make this in to a wonderful
peaceful and colourful event. .

July 8th. Hull Green Day.
Details: Betty Whitewell.

3. Thomgath Lane. Barrow-
on-Humber, tel. Barrow-on
* 30721.

July 20th. Master mix 84.
Longleat Estate. Tel. Bristol
40513.

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wm

| M

..........

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, « M -

1

July21st-22nd. Scoraig CND
Festival, mi

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wr

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mi

1st. Reclaim Chil
«ee 'Events' j* wrnmmmum
July 3rd. Mind, Body and
Spirit. Olympia. London.

George St.

:x::::§:§: ; :xxx:;!i!;:x:::ixix;x::<;::

i-xr.Xvix-xx^^^Si-x-??:

_

.

*

1H 5LB.

6th-8th. 'A Future for

ence in

•ests’, a ct -

W lllli -

XxxX:

y.v.y.yASv.v.y.’ ■ ■

imilla Rally. Brockwell
Brixton, London.

July 11th. A Million Miles '
ot Peace. (See Events)

July 13th. Full Moon Windsor
Free Festival. Windsor Greal
rk.

July 27th-29th Elephant Fay re.
St Germans, Cornwall.

“■* f /c y *■■■■'■ i

Si£l

w —

i Ms

2 8th-August 5th. London
450 mile Cycle Ride,
ct: 47a. Thornton Ave.
reatham Hill, London. SW2.

■■■si

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iiSSiiX!

siliii*

B53 4J

* J anet Rowe. Avon
St, Bristol. B53
72 666266|

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August 1st. Cantlin Stone
Free Festival. Clunn Faest.

- x : xV:.
•■•l-x.

Aug. 1st- 18th.

Superphenix Sum
Camp

six-

July 6th. 'The;

the

Class Struggle’ by Frederick
James at Details; 4 Welles
Houso, Church Row,

NW1.

■i xS

July 14th. Tewkesbury
Mediaeval Fay re. The
VineyardsjField, Tewkesbury,
Glos.

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'

■■''•' x X:x:':§xlv : '' ; :.

" ’- ;; x '■'• _

July 14
Brixt

estival

taiigpix ■ &
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• ■

. .

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X-::' : >

W w.

Peace

July 7th. Nudes against Nukes. July 16th-26th. 30 Bases Cycle

lpm. Hampstead Heath. Nr. Tour. Contact: Marple Youth

South End Green. London. CND, 6. Barnham Rd. Marple.

oshima Day.

Day.

Green Moon
Cumbria. Details:
Tynedale Cottages,
•rigill,Alston, Cumbria,
CA9 3DS.

Aug. 25th onwards 'Harvest
For The Hungry' at USAF
Moleswcrth.

We know this issue has got a bit heavy.

Everyone seems to have a lot to get off
their chest. Have you? Write about it for
us. But keep it short and pointed.

W ith your help we can o i

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